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First Edition Cycling News for July 16, 2004

Mission accomplished for Moncoutié

Cofidis' David Moncoutié achieved his lifelong goal of a Tour
de France stage win Thursday with a solo victory ahead of two breakaway
companions, Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
with whom he attacked a third of the way through the stage from Saint-Flour
to Figeac. Moncoutié's aggressive riding came as no surprise given
his local roots, and indeed he was already on the offensive in the animated
opening hour of the race as part of an unsuccessful seven man break at
kilometre 27. Moncoutié followed an attack by Flecha in the closing
kilometres before making his own counter move for which Flecha and Martinez
had no answer.

"It's always been a dream to win a Tour stage, but actually doing it
is not so easy," Moncoutié explained after his victory. "And of
course being near my home helped a lot. Before the Tour my goal was to
win a stage, and now I've done that. Now I'm not going to be able to be
content with arriving in the grupetto in the mountains."

Moncoutié, a talented climber, finished 13th overall in last
year's Tour, though he has no illusions about challenging for a high GC
position. Modest by nature, his stage victory was the number one goal,
even it has inspired him to focus more on GC now that his race is building
momentum. "I've never thought of myself as a team leader," he said.

Stage 11, rarely flat just like stage 10 but with less severe climbs,
offered Moncoutié one last opportunity to drop his rivals, an uncategorised
climb in the final ten kilometres before a fast finish into Figeac. Several
tests let him know his chances were good, before making the decisive move
after Flecha failed to make his own break.

"I was afraid in the beginning, because Martinez and Flecha were speaking
a lot in Spanish and I thought they might try to attack me together,"
he explained. "First Flecha attacked and Martinez chased, so after that
I thought it was my turn to try something. When I went I could see they
weren't cooperating."

Moncoutié also had his own tribute in mind when he crossed the
line in Figeac.

"Like Virenque, I also thought of my grandmother, who died two days
ago," Moncoutié said. "And of course my parents and family. Plus
it was great to hear all the encouragement along the course.

"This is the high point of my career," he concluded. "I'm still young,
and my career isn't finished, but I've realized my biggest dream."

Flecha gets close

Fassa Bortolo's Juan Antonio Flecha's reward in Stage 11 was second place,
2'15 behind winner David Moncoutié. Flecha made the first attack on the
last climb but was countered strongly by Moncoutié, who quickly opened
up a large advantage on his rivals.

"I tried to go from a fair way out," said Flecha after the finish. "But
they reacted immediately and when the French guy attacked I could not
jump again. He was riding very strongly. I am trying every day in order
to try to give my team another stage win. Now I want to have another attempt
but will save myself in the Pyrenees to try again in the Alps."

Stage 12 preview: Enter the Pyrénées

The first of the Pyrénéean stages and the 12th
stage of this year's Tour de France begins at Castelsarrasin, one
of the main gateways to the Pyrénées. Featuring 'only' two Category 1
climbs over the 197.5 kilometre-long parcours, it may not be the toughest
of mountain stages, but with all 27.5 kilometres of climbing coming in
the last 38 kilometres that culminates at the mountain-top finish at La
Mongie, this ain't no walk in the park.

With defending champion Lance Armstrong best-placed on the classement
generale among the obvious Tour contenders including Hamilton, Heras,
Mayo and Ullrich, the five-time Tour winner is likely to adopt more of
a defensive approach and ride the path of least resistance, just as he
did when he won the stage to La Mongie back in 2002. Expect to see his
faithful team-mates Hincapie, Ekimov and Padrnos keeping him out of harm's
way for the first 160 kilometres before climbers Landis, Azevedo and Beltran
take over as the roads veer skywards.

Should the penultimate climb of the Col d'Aspin become the launching
pad for a serious attack however, the tactic may well catch more than
a few off-guard. On paper, the two closely-packed Cat. 1 climbs play right
into the hands of the mountain-men; while the initial 12.5 kilometres
at an average gradient of 6.3 percent may not be enough to unsettle Lance
or Der Kaiser, when coupled with another 15 kilometres' climbing on the
steeper Col du Tourmalet almost immediately afterwards, an attacking Heras
or Mayo could possibly see the Tour tables turn in their favour.

Certainly, this would be a dream scenario for the organisers, TV audiences
and roadside fans including the predicted tens of thousands of crazy orange-clad
Basques waving their Ikkurina flags, albeit an unlikely one. Most probably,
we will all have to wait for the following day's monster stage to the
Plateau de Beille for the real action to occur.

Then and now: Advantage Armstrong

July 18, 2002: At the start of Stage 11 in Pau, Igor Gonzalez
de Galdeano was the maillot jaune by a slender margin of 26 seconds.
The Spaniard had taken the race lead exactly one week ago after the Stage
4 team time trial, and three days before the start of the stage, Gonzalez
de Galdeano had admirably defended his lead in a 52 kilometre race of
truth, conceding just nine seconds to defending champion Lance Armstrong.

Despite the difficulty of the 158 kilometres that lay ahead, attacks
went straight from the gun, and by the first Cat. 4 climb of the day at
km 35, a group of nine riders broke free from the peloton. However, by
the time these nine were on the lower slopes of the hors categorie
Col D'Aubisque less than 20 kilometres later, CSC-Tiscali's Laurent Jalabert
was the only man out in front.

Look out for the full story to be posted on Cyclingnews later
today.

Levi excited for Athens

By Tim Maloney, European editor in Figeac

Cyclingnews spoke to Levi Leipheimer in Saint-Flour before the
11th stage of the Tour de France about his nomination to the US Olympic
Cycling Team in Athens, Greece next month. A delighted Leipheimer told
Cyclingnews that, "I'm very happy that USA Cycling has selected
me. It's a chance of a lifetime...I'm excited because I think I will fit
into the team very well. That's the most important thing...I can do a
lot of work. With five man teams (in Athens), it's difficult to control
the racing situation so you need five strong riders who can not only help
each other, but if there's a situation that occurs, they can take care
of themselves."

Leipheimer explained that representing the United States at an Olympic
Games will be something special for him. "For the sport of cycling, (the
Tour) is the biggest event in the world, but I'm still very excited to
go to the Olympics. I think for an American, it means quite a bit."

Not just a dog

Tyler Hamilton is in mourning for his friend Tugboat. For if the old
adage that a dog is man's best friend, Hamilton's big, friendly golden
Labrador retriever was quite a buddy. Cyclingnews had the fortune
to meet Tugboat a few years ago in Paris at the end of the Tour de France
when Ty's wife Haven brought their beloved pet to the end of the Tour.
Today we spoke to Hamilton before Stage 11 where the usually stoic New
Englander told us about his emotional roller-coaster surrounding the loss
of his best friend.

"Tugboat was like a family member to me," he said. "A lot of people
don't know me or know the situation; they might think 'oh he's just a
dog' but for me, it's hard, it's hard...just as hard as losing a family
member. But life goes on and certainly (the loss of Tugboat) is a hundred
times harder than what I went through last year."

When we asked Hamilton it he thought the spirit of Tugboat might be
with him during the rest of the Tour, Ty smiled and said "Yeah, I've got
his tag right here", showing us Tug's red ID tag held around his neck
on a white ribbon.

Brandt uses tainted supplement defense

Christophe Brandt (Lotto-Domo), who was expelled from the Tour by his
team last week for testing positive to methadone, believes that the drug
came from a tainted nutritional supplement that he took to cure his liver
problems. The Belgian together with his lawyer, a doctor and another witness
visited the chemist that had sold him the supplements, which were prescribed
by Lotto-Domo team doctor Daniel De Neve. According to Le Soir,
the chemist said that he had been working with methadone on the same day
that he had prepared Brandt's supplements, which could have been contaminated
as a result.

Brandt described the revelation as "a relief. Even if I remain suspended
by the Lotto-Domo team pending a decision by the Belgian Cycling Federation,
I hope to avoid a sanction thanks to this new evidence."

Bäckstedt withdraws

Magnus Bäckstedt (Alesiso-Bianchi) abandoned the Tour during stage 11
today, suffering from a painful back. The big Swedish rider was lying
in 72nd position on GC after finishing with the autobus yesterday.

Stage 12 weather

Stage 12, the first big day in the Pyrénées mountains,
will dawn bright and hot. Temperatures at the stage start are expected
around 30 degrees, though they will drop as the riders crest the two climbs
of the Col d'Aspin and La Mongie. Some clouds are expected on the climb
of the Col d'Aspin, and riders will face a headwind for the descent. A
storm is possible at the summit at La Mongie, and temperatures are expected
to be 20 degrees at the finish, but could drop after a storm.

Two back in Oktos fold

Eddy Lembo and Stéphane Barthe will both rejoin the Oktos-Saint
Quentin team they left at the end of last season. Lembo moved to the MrBookmaker-Palmans
team, while Barthe dropped to the amateur ranks with US Montauban 82.
Both riders were re-recruited by Oktos, Lembo in particular with the Tour
de l'Avenir in mind.

Irish XC Championship preview

By Shane Stokes, Irishcycling.com

Ireland's two Olympic-destined mountain bike riders, Robin Seymour and
Jenny McCauley, will be among the riders lining out this weekend in the
Irish national MTB championships in Kilruddery Estate, Bray. Seymour will
be aiming to win his eleventh straight gold medal in the event, while
McCauley will square up against Tarja Owens, who has taken nine consecutive
wins.

This Sunday's championships will be held on a course similar to that
used in 2002, with a mixture of technical and climbing sections featuring.
Fifty UCI points and the national champion's jersey up for grabs in both
the men's and women's senior event, and so a strong turnout is expected.
The men's entrants will battle it out over seven laps of the course, while
the women, juniors, veterans and masters will complete five. The sports
riders will do four, while the under 16, under 14 and under 12 categories
will do three, two and one laps respectively.

"We are hoping for a great day's racing," said race organiser Geoff
Seymour. "The course is similar in ways to that used in 2002. The start/finish
area is at the Belmont House ruins. There are a lot of technical areas
on the course and while there are no huge climbs, there are a number of
uphills each lap."

Entry to the course will be signposted from the Bray / Greystones road
to the back gate of the Kilruddery estate. There will be no entry via
the front gate of the estate. Sign on will open at 10.30 am with the underage
championships taking place at noon. The other races will start at 1.30
pm.

The national downhill championship scheduled for Bray Head on Saturday
has been postponed due to technical difficulties. It will be run off at
a later date.